Macondo Prospect

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Macondo field
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Location of Macondo field
Country United States
Region Gulf of Mexico
Location Mississippi Canyon
Block252
Offshore/onshoreoffshore
Coordinates 28°44′12″N88°23′13″W / 28.736667°N 88.386944°W / 28.736667; -88.386944 Coordinates: 28°44′12″N88°23′13″W / 28.736667°N 88.386944°W / 28.736667; -88.386944
Operator BP
Partners BP (90%)
MOEX Offshore 2007 (10%)
Field history
Discovery2010
Production
Estimated oil in place50 million barrels (~6.8×10^6 t)

The Macondo Prospect (Mississippi Canyon Block 252, abbreviated MC252) is an oil and gas prospect in the United States Exclusive Economic Zone of the Gulf of Mexico, off the coast of Louisiana. The prospect was the site of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig explosion in April 2010 that led to a major oil spill in the region from the first exploration well, named itself MC252-1 (nicknamed also Macondo-1), which had been designed to investigate the existence of the prospect.

Contents

Name

Oil companies routinely assign code names to offshore prospects early in the exploration effort. This practice helps ensure secrecy during the confidential pre-sale phase, and later provides convenient names for casual reference rather than the often similar-sounding official lease names denoted by, for example, the Minerals Management Service in the case of federal waters in the USA. Names in a given year or area might follow a theme such as beverages (e.g., Cognac), heavenly bodies (e.g., Mars), or even cartoon characters (e.g., Bullwinkle).

The name Macondo had been the winning selection in a BP employee contest as part of an internal United Way campaign. [1] It comes from the fictitious cursed town in the novel One Hundred Years of Solitude by Colombian Nobel Prize-winning writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez. [2]

Location

The prospect is located in Mississippi Canyon Block 252 of the Gulf of Mexico. BP is the operator and principal developer of the oil field with 90% of interest, the final 10% by MOEX Offshore 2007, a unit of Mitsui. [3] [4] Originally, Anadarko Petroleum owned 25% stake but in October 2011 this was transferred to BP as a part of a wider settlement between the companies. [4] The prospect may have held 50 million barrels (7.9×10^6 m3) producible reserves of oil. [5] It is 41 miles (66 km) offshore[ citation needed ] and 130 miles (210 km) from New Orleans. [6]

Geological target

The geological formation targeted by the well was hydrocarbon-bearing "mid-"Miocene turbiditic sands. The depth of the formation was estimated between 4000 and 4500 m below the sea floor.[ citation needed ]

History

In 1998, a regional shallow hazards survey and study was carried out at the Macondo area by KC Offshore. High resolution, 2D seismic data along with 3D exploration seismic data of the MC 252 was collected by Fugro Geoservices in 2003. BP purchased the mineral rights to drill for oil in the Macondo Prospect at the Minerals Management Service's lease sale in March 2008. [7]

Mapping of the block was carried out by BP America in 2008 and 2009. [8] BP secured approval to drill the Macondo Prospect from MMS in March 2009. An exploration well was scheduled to be drilled in 2009. [3]

On October 7, 2009 the Transocean Marianas semi-submersible rig commenced drilling, but operations were halted at 4,023 feet (1,226 m) below the sea floor on November 29, 2009, when the rig was damaged by Hurricane Ida. [9] The Transocean Deepwater Horizon rig resumed drilling operations in February 2010. [3]

Deepwater Horizon explosion and blowout

An explosion on the drilling rig Deepwater Horizon occurred on April 20, 2010, killing 11 workers. The Deepwater Horizon sank on April 22, 2010, in water approximately 5,000 feet (1,500 m) deep, and was located resting on the seafloor approximately 1,300 feet (400 m) (about a quarter of a mile) northwest of the well. [10] [11] [12]

Following the rig explosion and subsea blowout, BP started a relief well using Transocean's Development Driller III on May 2, 2010. The relief well would potentially take up to three months to drill. BP started a second relief well using Transocean's GSF Development Driller II on May 16, 2010. [13]

The well was successfully sealed off from flow into the sea on August 4, 2010 by a "static kill" (injection of heavy fluids and cement into the wellhead at the mudline).[ citation needed ] To further ensure the plugging of the original well, the first relief well established communication with the original wellbore near total depth and injected heavy fluids and cement.[ citation needed ]

See also

Related Research Articles

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Transocean Offshore drilling contractor

Transocean Ltd. is an American company. It is the world's largest offshore drilling contractor based on revenue and is based in Vernier, Switzerland. The company has offices in 20 countries, including Canada, the United States, Norway, United Kingdom, India, Brazil, Singapore, Indonesia, and Malaysia.

Anadarko Petroleum American energy company

Anadarko Petroleum Corporation was a company engaged in hydrocarbon exploration. It was organized in Delaware and headquartered in two skyscrapers in The Woodlands, Texas: the Allison Tower and the Hackett Tower, both named after former CEOs of the company. In 2019, the company was acquired by Occidental Petroleum.

Blowout preventer Specialized valve

A blowout preventer (BOP) is a specialized valve or similar mechanical device, used to seal, control and monitor oil and gas wells to prevent blowouts, the uncontrolled release of crude oil or natural gas from a well. They are usually installed in stacks of other valves.

<i>Deepwater Horizon</i> Former offshore oil drilling rig

Deepwater Horizon was an ultra-deepwater, dynamically positioned, semi-submersible offshore drilling rig owned by Transocean and operated by BP. On 20 April 2010, while drilling at the Macondo Prospect, a blowout caused an explosion on the rig that killed 11 crewmen and ignited a fireball visible from 40 miles (64 km) away. The fire was inextinguishable and, two days later, on 22 April, the Horizon sank, leaving the well gushing at the seabed and causing the largest marine oil spill in history.

Deepwater drilling, or deep well drilling, is the process of creating holes in the Earth's crust using a drilling rig for oil extraction under the deep sea. There are approximately 3400 deepwater wells in the Gulf of Mexico with depths greater than 150 meters.

Tiber Oil Field Oil field in the Gulf of Mexico

The Tiber Oil Field is a deepwater offshore oil field located in the Keathley Canyon block 102 of the United States sector of the Gulf of Mexico. The deepwater field was discovered in September 2009 and it is operated by BP. Described as a "giant" find, it is estimated to contain 4 to 6 billion barrels of oil in place. Although BP states it is too early to be sure of the size – a "huge" field is usually considered to contain 250 million barrels. It required the drilling of a 10,685 m (35,056 ft) deep well under 1,260 m (4,130 ft) of water, making it one of the deepest wells ever drilled at the time of discovery.

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<i>Deepwater Horizon</i> oil spill Oil spill that began in April 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico

The Deepwater Horizon oil spill was an industrial disaster that began on 20 April 2010 off of the coast of the United States in the Gulf of Mexico on the BP-operated Macondo Prospect, considered to be the largest marine oil spill in the history of the petroleum industry and estimated to be 8 to 31 percent larger in volume than the previous largest, the Ixtoc I oil spill, also in the Gulf of Mexico. The United States federal government estimated the total discharge at 4,900 Mbbl. After several failed efforts to contain the flow, the well was declared sealed on 19 September 2010. Reports in early 2012 indicated that the well site was still leaking. The Deepwater Horizon oil spill is regarded as one of the largest environmental disasters in world history.

<i>Deepwater Horizon</i> explosion 2010 oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico

The Deepwater Horizon drilling rig explosion was an April 20, 2010 explosion and subsequent fire on the Deepwater Horizon semi-submersible mobile offshore drilling unit, which was owned and operated by Transocean and drilling for BP in the Macondo Prospect oil field about 40 miles (64 km) southeast off the Louisiana coast. The explosion and subsequent fire resulted in the sinking of the Deepwater Horizon and the deaths of 11 workers; 17 others were injured. The same blowout that caused the explosion also caused an oil well fire and a massive offshore oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, considered the largest accidental marine oil spill in the world, and the largest environmental disaster in United States history.

The following is a timeline of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. It was a massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the largest offshore spill in U.S. history. It was a result of the well blowout that began with the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig explosion on April 20, 2010.

<i>Development Driller III</i>

Development Driller III is a fifth generation, Vanuatu-flagged dynamic positioning semi-submersible ultra-deepwater drilling rig owned by Transocean and operated under lease agreements by various petroleum exploration and production companies worldwide. The vessel is capable of drilling in water depths up to 7,500 feet (2,300 m) with drilling depth of 35,000 feet (11,000 m), upgradeable to 37,500 feet (11,400 m).

<i>Discoverer Enterprise</i>

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<i>Deepwater Nautilus</i>

Deepwater Nautilus is an ultra-deepwater, semi-submersible offshore drilling rig.

Mitsui Oil Exploration Co., Ltd. (MOECO) is an oil exploration subsidiary of Mitsui & Co. that specializes in natural gas. It has its headquarters in the Hibiya Central Building in Nishi-Shinbashi, Minato, Tokyo.

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Following is a timeline of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill for July 2010.

Following is a Timeline of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill for May 2010.

The Deepwater Horizon investigation included several investigations and commissions, among others reports by National Incident Commander Thad Allen, United States Coast Guard, National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement, National Academy of Engineering, National Research Council, Government Accountability Office, National Oil Spill Commission, and Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board.

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References

  1. ↑ Maass, Peter (September 29, 2011). "What Happened at the Macondo Well?". The New York Review of Books . LVIII (14): 38–41. Archived from the original on October 1, 2016. Retrieved September 22, 2011.
  2. ↑ Casselman, Ben; Gold, Russell (May 27, 2010). "Unlikely Decisions Set Stage for BP Disaster". The Wall Street Journal; Dow Jones Newswires . Retrieved February 26, 2014.
  3. 1 2 3 "Offshore Field Development Projects: Macondo". Subsea.Org. Retrieved May 18, 2010.
  4. 1 2 O'Cinneide, Eoin (October 17, 2011). "BP, Anadarko in $4bn Macondo settlement" . Upstream Online . NHST Media Group.
  5. ↑ Klump, Edward (May 13, 2010). "Spill May Hit Anadarko Hardest as BP's Silent Partner". Bloomberg . Retrieved May 19, 2010.
  6. ↑ Escalante, Linda, "The Macondo Oil Spill", NRDC Switchboard blog, June 7, 2010. Retrieved 2011-06-08.
  7. ↑ "Central Gulf of Mexico Planning Area Lease Sale 206 Information". US Minerals Management Service. August 8, 2008.
  8. ↑ "Macondo Prospect, Gulf of Mexico, USA". offshore-technology.com. Net Resources International. Retrieved May 18, 2010.
  9. ↑ Spear, Kevin (May 23, 2010). "Documents show BP chose a less-expensive, less-reliable method for completing well in Gulf oil spill". Orlando Sentinel .
  10. ↑ Robertson, Cambell; Robbins, Liz (April 22, 2010). "Oil Rig Sinks in the Gulf of Mexico". The New York Times . Retrieved April 22, 2010.
  11. ↑ Resnick-Ault, Jessica; Klimasinska, Katarzyna (April 22, 2010). "Transocean Oil-Drilling Rig Sinks in Gulf of Mexico". Bloomberg . Retrieved April 22, 2010.
  12. ↑ "Deepwater Horizon Incident, Gulf of Mexico". National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Office of Response and Restoration. April 24, 2010. Archived from the original on April 29, 2010. Retrieved April 25, 2010.
  13. ↑ "Update on Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill Response - 24 May" (Press release). BP. May 24, 2010. Archived from the original on May 24, 2010. Retrieved May 24, 2010.
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